Federer is not the GOAT. Discuss.

I've been thinking about his retirement myself. I figure he'll retire next year, but I can't decide whether he'll do it at Wimbledon, Basel or WTF.

I can't see him calling it quits mid-season, not with one more Slam to go. So then he could feasibly play the USO, then sit out the Asian swing and finish in his home tournament. But then with WTF two weeks later, would he really miss the opportunity to play that one last time?

Or maybe he'll continue to play into 2014. I don't know. Will he look to finish on a high, or whilst he's still competing regularly at the top will he be too tempted to carry on until he finally falls away?

I didn't count Basel because Federer is loved and well recognized around the world, so I thought he would choose a bigger tournament like a major to call it quits, like the way Sampras, Roddick etc. did. But I could be well wrong too. He might want to pick Basel as his last tournament for emotional attachment reasons.

I think he'll retire at Wimbledon, but I don't think it'll be as early as next year. At the moment, he's still beating most players ranked below him so I see him continuing until he starts losing regularly to the likes of Berdych, Del Potro, Tsonga etc. Unless injury forces him out, I can see him playing for several more years yet.

I didn't count Basel because Federer is loved and well recognized around the world, so I thought he would choose a bigger tournament like a major to call it quits, like the way Sampras, Roddick etc. did. But I could be well wrong too. He might want to pick Basel as his last tournament for emotional attachment reasons.

Both Americans who retired at the last American tournament of the year?

Both Americans who retired at the last American tournament of the year?

I know they are both Americans but the point is, it makes sense that a big player like Federer would want to retire at the end of a season rather than in the middle and wouldn’t choose a smaller event to do it. For example, Sampras' favourite tournament was always Wimbledon and yet he chose USO to retire. Perhaps USO also made more sense since he was an American as well. Sampras announced just before USO unlike Roddick who did in the middle of the event. Federer, I feel, will announce much before his actual retirement as he’d probably like more attention from his fans and in general going into each tournament that year.

2013 might be a bit too soon for him but if he doesn’t win any titles (Masters, Majors etc.) then ranking won’t matter as much, though they are directly connected. From Olympics and on, he’s taken one too many beatings in succession. The most unfortunate event was when Nole couldn’t win Cincy otherwise it would have been a series of losses to Andy, Nole, Berdych, Andy, Del Potro etc. – the current generation. He can still win WTF and make up all the recent losses and perhaps get motivated a bit more for next year, which he will need, but if he sees another loss here, can’t say he won’t be seriously thinking about it at year end.

There is some word about Fed not playing Basel next year. Seemingly, he's demanding 2 million euros in appearance money (he presently gets half a million) and the tournament director says they can't afford it. There was a big splurge on it in the Swiss press - they also had a go about Fed not playing Davis Cup as much as he ought.

Becker raised a valid point r: racquet technology. I am quite sure Federer wouldn't have achieved as much had he played in the 80s or 90s. Today's players are much more privileged than the past and tomorrow's players will be even more so. And I believe there will be much more adjustments to the surfaces as well to suit the players needs of the respective generations. I don’t think the advancement of technology is necessarily a bad thing, but it does tend to undermine the great players of the previous eras, who seemed to possess genuine talent and did their best without any extra help.

And it was very well put by him as well that Federer is undoubtedly the most successful player to date but that by no means mean that, he’s also the greatest player of all time.

There is some word about Fed not playing Basel next year. Seemingly, he's demanding 2 million euros in appearance money (he presently gets half a million) and the tournament director says they can't afford it. There was a big splurge on it in the Swiss press - they also had a go about Fed not playing Davis Cup as much as he ought.

"Well, Federer said some 4 years ago was to play until Olympics 2012. Now that he's done so and got a medal in the process, I guess retirement should be in the vicinity of at most 2 years maybe!! Honestly I can't see Fed playing next Olympics. So what do you think guys ? How long do you think Fed will continue playing and do you expect him to suddenly retire (like Henin, Roddick, Ferrero) or inform the public that this will be his final year ? If so what tournament will he choose as his final ? Will it be Wimbledon or Basel?"